The Capitals have a question mark in their crease as they enter the last few weeks of the regular season.
Logan Thompson suffered an upper-body injury against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night and is set to be out of the team’s lineup for an undetermined amount of time. Head coach Spencer Carbery revealed the news to the media after Friday’s morning skate when asked for an update on the 28-year-old netminder.
“Logan will miss a little bit of time,” Carbery said. “I won’t call him day-to-day, he’s definitely going to miss a couple games, and then we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Charlie Lindgren will get the start for the Caps against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday and take control of the crease until Thompson is healthy enough to return. While Carbery has employed an alternating goalie strategy for most of the season, Lindgren has appeared in nine fewer games than Thompson.
Lindgren has been the better of the two goalies recently, posting a 6-4-2 record since the beginning of March with a 2.54 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for Chuckie,” Carbery said. “Waiting for this opportunity isn’t the right way to say it, but an opportunity like this where he can now take the reins for a bit. He’s going to play tonight, and we’ll see where it goes. We never make decisions after the game in front of us, but a good chance for him to string some starts together and play real well.
“I’ve liked his game of late. I know Logan has got the majority of the starts, but Chuckie, in his games, even though a couple of them haven’t gone our way as a team, I think he’s looked really, really sharp, so I’m excited to see him be able to play tonight and get a few more minutes in the crease.”
The Capitals recalled Hunter Shepard from the AHL’s Hershey Bears to serve as Lindgren’s backup until Thompson recovers.
